I have enjoyed some of James Patterson's earlier books, but not so much his later ones. His latest is a golf related novel, Miracle at Augusta, that I have not read yet. It is the only book I can remember ever being pitched on TV. I thought, gee, I wish I could afford to advertise on Golf Channel.I did check out some facts about James to compare with myself. Of course it is all in fun, so the facts were carefully selected [ so I would win].

-My next event will be at the Prescott Valley Public Library on May 16 with a number of other local authors. I am looking forward to seeing some acquaintances, and meeting new authors and readers.

Who is Harold Lloyd Jenkins?There are differing stories about how Harold got renamed.His given name of Harold Jenkins didn't seem marketable as a singer. He or his producers decided on the the new name after flying over the area and looking at a roadmap noting Conway, Arkansas, and Twitty, Texas.Conway Twitty.

Who is Dennis W. Harwich?He was a radio DJ on Cape Cod in the 1980's.Real name, I couldn't find out. I heard that he took the name from an exit sign on the Mid Cape Highway (US 6) on Cape Cod.Turn L for Dennis, or R for West Harwich.<Dennis W. Harwich>

Who is Orme Dugas? (or-may do-gaw)Orme Dugas is a character in my book, Stinger Maguire.He is pro golfer Maguire's lawyer/agent.He is not named after two adjacent towns. I thought so at first, but they are not towns but roads. Well, Dugas was a town.The sign always caught my eye traveling on I-17 midway between my home and Phoenix, AZ.<Orme Rd.Dugas Rd.>I thought it once read: "Orme, Dugas" and referred to two towns.

Turn westward on Orme Road to the Orme School, Mayer, AZ.Turn to the east onto Dugas Road, Mayer, AZ, to a small ghost town which is the geographical center of Arizona.Photo of the benchmark on geocoaching.com by Arizona Ranger Team:

I took liberties with my character describing the origin of his name (chapter 16). Some of it is true.

I have recently learned there is a real person named Orme Dugas (or-may do-gaw), though I can find nothing online about him except a mention by Dektown Wine Cellars, who with Page Springs Wine Cellers, produced Orme Dugas Fallout wine in 2012 and 2013. "Orme Dugas, the man, was an inspiration, even before Dektown Cellars harvested a single grape. He was always the first to greet us on trips to Northern Arizona Wine Country with a grin and a nod. His passion continues to inspire"

I enjoyed Conway Twitty on the radio years ago. I might have heard a song of his introduced by Dennis W. Harwich. I enjoyed writing my character, Orme Dugas (or-me do-gaw), in Stinger Maguire. He turned out to be quite important to the story. I'd surely enjoy a glass of wine with the real person named Orme Dugas.

Tucson Festival Of Books (TFOB) 2015I was impressed and amazed March 14 and 15 at the University of Arizona attending the 7th annual Tucson Festival of Books. One little author among over 350 others of all sizes and crowds estimated at well over 100,000. What an incredible amount of planning an organization to pull that off without a hiccup, from my perspective. Except for this: Sunday morning, about 10 AM, it was quite windy and a food court umbrella, fully opened, flew over our tent and landed in our aisle, an edge brushing my arm. Luckily no one was injured. The pole of the umbrella is of considerable size. By the time we figured out where it had come from, the staff had removed all of the others. That’s an example of how efficient the staff and volunteers performed. While walking around I met a few folks I knew previously only through online activities. Chatting about my books and other books with hundreds of readers was great fun. ﻿So many people in one place. All for books. Fabulous!﻿ It was also a lot of fun working with those that were part of our group, authors from BookGoodies and Awesomegang. It was a pleasure to stand beside other authors representing many genres, like Shawn Inmon, Lynne Cantwell, Katie Darden, Terry Ambrose, Eva Vanrell, Sandra Russell Farris, Angella Graff, Jaclyn Weist, Deborah Carney, Vinny OHare, M L Ryan, Linda Kovic-Skow, Shelly Young, Eugene Carr, Karen Meuller Bryson, Andean White, David Van Dyke, and Peter Pollak. And the pre-fest dinner was fun. Many thanks to Deborah Carney (BookGoodies.com) and Vinny OHare (Awesomegang.com) for their toils this weekend and support over the years. The festival was much like other book affairs I have attended, but magnified at least a thousand times. Many people, many books, a lot of food, music, and Arizona spring weather is a great combination. See you next time, March 12 and 13, 2016 in Tucson.

Both Bruce DelReno Mysteries are FREE this week in the Amazon Kindle Store.Willowtree -Tuesday 3/17 Happy St Patrick's Day from Bruce and Genny.Stinger Maguire -Friday and Saturday 3/20 and 21. Happy St Patrick's Day again from Taryn "Stinger" Maguire and his da, Sean.

February 23, 2015 First of all, let me send warm wishes for a happy **th birthday to my beautiful sister, Beth-Ann, in cold New England. Also born this day, my wonderful sister-in-law, Akemi. Hugs.Baseball Short Stop. Spring training is open and I am growing more excited each day. Seems like the D’Backs have a dozen candidates for their starting rotation. Is that good or bad?﻿New rules to speed up the game? Bad.﻿Tucson Festival Of Books. I have longed to attend this event, which is one of the largest book fairs in the country, for many years. Even more since publishing my first book in 2011.And now I am going to be there March 14 and 15 along with hundreds of authors including over twenty from our Bookgoodies.com group.﻿Click for our: ﻿Saturday lineup. Sunday lineup.Bookgoodies.com and Deborah Carney, with Awsomegang.com and Vinny O’Hare, are sponsoring our group. They are both accomplished photographers and have numerous books to their credit.If you are in or near Tucson find us at :booth #112 near the Student Union and the AZ Daily Star (2014 gallery). You might want to visit Scott Turow, Dave Barry, J A Jance, Valerie Plame, Iris Johansen, but don’t forget to stop by and see us.I will be signing my books on Saturday only at 9:30-11:30, and 1:30-3:30. Check out the sites I’ve mentioned for more info about the festival and about a big lotta free stuff. ﻿Many free e-books﻿are scheduled to be available on or near the festival week-end.Including: Willowtree on Mon&Tue 3/16-17. Stinger Maguire on Fri&Sat 3/20-21Antelope CanyonBeautiful photo book of an Arizona landmark by Deborah Carney. 3/13-16Lucky Man A short story by Shawn Inmon. A good sample of this prolific best selling author. 3/14-15Land Sea Sky Trilogy Best selling fantasy series by Lynne Cantwell. 3/12-16

My next book, some are wondering,is slowly progressing. I explained delays due to surgeries and puppies. Actually two manuscripts are in (slow) progress. One, Bruce DelReno Mystery III, untitled, but this time the victim is not discovered by Bruce. And, it is not in Willowtree. Two, is a book narrated by a dog. I am working on and trying to decide whether the dog is Bruce's. If so, maybe combining the two stories. A twofer. We'll see.Cheers! Woof!

Catching up on a few things before I do the Christmas thing and get busy with year-end cleanup and 2014 taxes. - Eye Like ItI have been often absent from online shenanigans lately due to eye surgery. I was not going to mention it, but folks are noticing me around town without my glasses, or wearing dark glasses when it is sunny, and wondering why I haven’t been to the golf course in a week. Thanks to a wee plastic lens replacing a storm-cloudy cataract my world is bigger and brighter. One more eye to go; then I’ll see how green the fairway grass really is at Coyote Trails. - Goodreads told me I read 9 books this year. Gee, they are not keeping up with me. The number is closer to 50. Not counting those started and abandoned. Not that they were bad, just that I have limited taste. Some I enjoyed to the end are:

A Caribbean adventure with dogs, a billionaire boyfriend, and plenty of books. What’s not to like?Maybe bad wolves and pirates. And because all of the books have been reprinted with defects and the final pages are missing. It’s an evil plot against the dog shifters who have worked hard to preserve and help good books and libraries flourish.Reprinted is the fourth book in The Shapeshifters’ Library from multi-genre and award winning author, Amber Polo. This time featuring Landy, a beautiful wolf-human, improbably in love with a shifter chihuahua, who in human form is one of the smartest and richest men in the world.Perfect. Right? Who better to stop the destruction of les livres from the werewolves than one of their own, gone good, and a pip-squeak Mexican dog? They are two of the many interesting and significant characters.This fantasy adventure romance, with its humor and intrigue, also sheds light on some real problems facing readers, authors, and publishers in our own world. I recommend Reprinted and theseries for fun reading. But, besides that, you will get a unique literary experience which, intentional or not, will take you into an enjoyable make-believe world and make you think of similar situations in the real one.

Contest #2Win DelReno Package,including signed copies of Willowtree and Stinger Maguire, coffee mug, bookmarks, 17” poster, and Bruce’s favorite lemonade.- Just an email to enter, until 12/27.- See the Promo Page for info:http://www.mikebove.net/promos.html

Please help spread the word about these contests.

One of my favorite hosts of authors is at:http://www.indiesunlimited.com/On Thursdays, often, authors post free and 99 cent books for readers to check out.

I was warned in yesterday's edition of my paper, The Arizona Republic, that the biggest edition of the year would be tossed into my driveway on Thanksgiving Day.I knew what was coming and was (not) disappointed.I always cull out the *#%@** and save the good stuff.Today there was:

48 advertisement inserts.I found a few sections of news, etc., which BTW, I estimate to consist of 60% advertisements:

And, finally I discovered what I was looking for:

Yea! 16 pages of sports news including only 5 1/2 pages of ads.3 football games-Cowboys and Lions, but they do not play each other like years ago when that was the only game on TGD. DBacks signed a slugger. $68 mil. Hope that works out; Goldy needs some help.

Have a great day y'all. I might just carefully go through those ads so I am well prepared for my Black Friday shopping spree. Maybe not.

Stop Changing My Baseball GameThis is my latest baseball rant brought on by the latest from Major League Baseball. MLB announced experimental rules changes to help speed up the game. They will be tried out in the Arizona Fall League. First of all, there is no clock in baseball, and that is one of its attractions. A player does not have to beat the clock as in a last-second shot in a tied basketball game. But, I dare say that a batter facing a closer in the last of the ninth with two out, game tied, has all of that drama and suspense. In my opinion, more, since the batter gets up to three strikes or four balls. Without a doubt there is much wasted time in Major League games. But having a clock and timing certain actions is absurd. A clock will not affect umpire decisions, good calls or bad calls. MLB has already given umpires the manager play challanges and video review process. I have accepted that, but still do not agree with the whole thing. Will umpires now have to deal with challanges that a pitcher took too long to pitch the ball, or did the batter get into the batter’s box soon enough? Here are the basic proposals:1) The batter must keep at least one foot in the batter’s box between pitches. Of course, there are numerous exceptions, like on a wild pitch, foul ball, passed ball, umpire takes a bounced ball in the groin, etc.Nonsense. Can they list all possible exceptions like if the batter gets dirt in his eye, or needs to adjust his body armor? The rule sounds good, because players do not really need to adjust their batting gloves after every pitch. How about making the rule that batters cannot wear gloves? Babe Ruth didn’t wear them. That would be ridiculous. Yes, and so is the proposal. My basic opposition to this rule is the same for all of the proposals, and many that have been already adopted. Baseball was a perfect, ingeniously constructed game. Lifestyle changes and technology have influenced changes that reduce the human element. The greatest unwritten rule has been greatly compromised. The umpire(s) are to have total control of the game. Period. Umps have not, and will not, get every call correct.Frustrating and disastrous sometimes? Yes. That’s the game of baseball. Ted Williams, Ty Cobb, and Cy Young lived with it. 2) The manager can give a signal for an intentional walk to eliminate four meaningless pitches. Okay with me as long as the pitcher (manager) has the option to throw the four pitches if he wants. I’ve seen managers change their mind, and seen batters swing at “meaningless” pitches. 3) 20 Second Clock. OMG!This stupidity would give the pitcher 20 seconds to be “ready to deliver the ball.” If he is not “set” to throw it, the umpire calls a ball. If the batter is not in the box, it is called a strike. Jeez, Selig, there cannot be a ball or strike called if no baseball was thrown. 4) Limits to be set on time-outs and the time taken between innings. The ump handles visits to the mound by the manager or pitching coach pretty well now. Sometimes catchers visit the mound too often. Fix that.Time between innings is too long. I blame TV for that. There are more minutes of commercials per hour in all shows, not only sports. Money. We can’t fix that because: money.There are some rules changes that could help speed up the game. However, if we just follow that unwritten one, The umpire(s) are to have total control of the game, we’d be okay. How?The ump tells the pitcher, “Throw the damn ball,” if he dilly-dallys too much. He tells the batter,”Get in the damn box.” He tells the manager, “Get off the field.” He warns them. They keep it up. He throws them out of the game. He says, “Play ball,” without waiting for a signal from a TV producer. MLB does away with replay video. Maybe the pitcher doesn’t need a new ball because one touched the dirt. Much of the complaining that a baseball game is boring, too slow, or takes too long comes from folks who do not understand the intricacies of it. Real fans do not simply wait for a spectacular catch or a home run. Almost every pitch can change the game situation. Real fans, on every pitch, put themselves into the situation, looking at things like defensive alignment or shifts at every position. Which pitch (fastball, curve, etc.) should the batter expect, which should the pitcher throw, with each ball-strike count? The guy on first base, should he try to steal? When? Lefty-righty match-ups. Late game strategy. Pinch hitter? Who? A guy that gets on base, or a slugger? Did he throw to the right base? Hit the cut-off man? He should have hit to the right side. Etc. Etc. Endless situations to foresee, think about, witness, and second guess. Mr. Commissioner, please do not continue to ruin this beautiful game for real enthusiasts by catering to some who really do not care very much about it, or whose only interest is to make more profits from it.And, Mr. Selig, before you go, please put Pete Rose in the Hall of Fame.I know. He is an idiot and gambling is one of his problems. He was also one of the elite players, one of the best ever, one who fans, not only from Cincinnati, paid to see.

September 29, 2014 First of all, let me wish a happy **th birthday to my beautiful daughter-in-law, Jill.Now, a few more short notes (random thoughts) so that I get a post in my blog this month.Baseball.Best game ever invented. Three strikes, but four balls. Ninety feet. Genius. D’Backs, mercy! Thought Gibby would be gone at All Star break. Too many injuries, backward K’s, .200 hitters, and little-command pitchers.Video reviews overturned nearly 50% of the umpire decisions they looked at. Prooves to me the umps made a whole lot of bad calls this season. Some were obvious. Some needed split-second-slo-mo to decide. Not what Mr. Doubleday had in mind. The game is for humans. The officials are not infallible. C’est la vie! Can’t wait for the World Series, then spring training.Jeter!Book Festival. Looking forward to the Sedona Book Festival at the Elks Club on Saturday, 10/04. I’ll be there among over sixty other authors handing out bookmarks.99 cents. W and SM e-books are 99¢ only through Tuesday 9/30. Then they go back to retail.Sorry Lee Child.I had never read a Lee Child book until a few months ago when I enjoyed Echo Burning. Then I got an ARC (advance review copy) of his latest book, Personal, from his publicist. Halfway through it, I began hearing of his comments concerning the book price dispute between Amazon and Hachette. I am one of thousands of independent authors publishing through Amazon and agree with their position on the price of ebooks (lower than what Hachette wants). Mr. Child has lost me as a reader due to his comments about the dispute and Indie Authors. Personal was not nearly as entertaining as Echo Burning anyway, and I thought of ditching it before he said those things about me/us. Sorry, Lee, it's personal.Smart Phone.I finally got one. Now I know why I see everybody sitting everywhere fiddling with theirs. They are trying to figure out how it works.October 13. 10/13/2014 will be Thanksgiving Day in Canada, Columbus Day in the USA, and many Native American tribes will have their own celebrations. The day will also mark my 20th anniversary of arriving in Arizona.Cheers!

Recently a baserunner was headed toward home plate and the catcher with the ball was partially blocking his path. He avoided the catcher by running around him. He was called safe by the umpire, though (to this day) he never has touched the plate. Video review upheld the safe call, citing it followed the interpretation of the rule. Of course, one team was happy and applauded and the other team was frustrated and felt cheated. The purpose of the new rule is to avoid a collision when a player is speeding home and attempting not to be tagged out, or beat the throw on a force play. Serious injuries to catchers and runners have occurred. Runners have intentionally barrelled into the catcher to knock him over, prevent him from catching the ball, or knock it from his hands. That was legal, the runner has a right to a path to the base. The catcher had a right to try and block the runner from scoring. Players got hurt, and I understand maybe something had to be done about it. The new rule puts most of the responsibility on the catcher. Awaiting the ball, does he get in front of the plate? Behind it? He has to move to catch a less than perfect throw; that may bring him into the path. Yet, the baserunner can waltz around him and score the winning run without even touching home plate. Not right.And, it is not the runner’s fault; he’s following the rules. It’s not the umpire’s fault; he’s following the interpretation of the league. It’s certainly not the catcher’s fault being put in an awkward position to do his job.Should the league abolish this rule and go back to the way it was?Maybe, the catcher knows he may be run over; the runner knows he must run him over. It's baseball. A player may cause an injury to himself or another player by making an over-zealous collision. That over zealousness, or god forbid, intention to harm the other player, which has happened, is what should be dealt with. That's not baseball.

The idea is to score runs. It is not good sense to make a rule so difficult to comply with and interpret when players are doing their job-score, or prevent a score. In baseball if you do not touch the base - you’re out. A proposal, simply stated: treat all plays at home plate as a force out. That means the catcher only has to touch home plate before the runner does. The catcher can stand with a toe touching the plate like a first baseman. The runner can run past the plate, or slide. If he beats the throw, he’s safe. It means the runner cannot go back to third if he has committed to run home.Radical, I know. But not stupid like the DH rule, having a player bat without playing in the field. An aside: "Poor pitcher, you can’t hit well, in fact you suck at it, so, we will let this guy who can’t throw very well bat for you. How’s that?”The only problem I see with my proposal is when a runner rounds third base and has to decide to run home or not. Easy solution: if he gets more than halfway home he cannot go back. A little line at 45 feet, halfway, gives him plenty of time to decide and the umpire a definitive answer to whether he committed or not.Commitment Rule: If a runner passes third base and passes ‘the commitment line’ which is a mark equidistant from the base and home plate, he cannot retreat to third base. Any play at home will be considered a force-out. The catcher, or any defensive player with the ball, can tag the runner or the plate to record an out.Some baseball people will like this, and some will not. I get it, it is smart and crazy. But not as much as this other proposal to fix the home plate collision rule. It is the DR Rule, the full name being The Designated Third Base Runner Tag Rule. The DTBRT rule allows the runner to tag a DR runner after touching third base. The DR would stand in the base coaches box (which isn’t used anyway) and becomes the new runner when tagged. The DR will usually be a guy like Jim Brown or another 260 lb fullback, in full protective gear, who certainly will make the damn catcher get out of the way.Some critics say this won’t work because there will be so many video reviews since the umpire will often be uncertain if a tag was actually made. That problem can be solved by having the home plate umpire give each batter a relay baton. (The ump can keep a few in his big pocket, the one that holds hundreds of baseballs.) After rounding third base the runner must pass the baton to Jim Brown before reaching the commitment line.

Some of this post is an attempt at humor.Some is serious. I still love baseball, the game, but not as much as in the 1950's when I was an infatuated boy listening to Mel Allen and Red Barber on my transistor radio, when I could rattle off the current batting average of my whole team. And before I knew what technology and money could do to it.

Author Mike Bove

Arizona writer of Bruce DelReno golf mysteries.

The DelReno Letter is my occasional email that might contain a blog post, a review or recommendation, a recipe, a joke, and announcements of publications, writing progress or appearances, and maybe a freebie. I will not send spam or share any address.